The Montenegrin Agency for the Protection of Competition has found that three telecom firms collectively raised the minimum prices for five-euro prepaid mobile top-ups, breaching regulations.

In April, the agency initiated an investigation into Montenegrin Telekom, M:Tel, and One, following a request from the Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services to investigate potential competition law violations.

The competition authority concluded that the companies broke competition protection laws by setting the same price for prepaid top-ups and implementing the changes on the same effective date, April 1.

Agency Director Nebojsa Jovovic stated that their investigation revealed collusion aimed at undermining competition, which is illegal. “The agency has prohibited the continuation of this unlawful agreement and has enforced measures on all three operators,” Jovovic remarked.

He noted that the companies could incur fines ranging from 1 to 10 percent of their revenue from the previous year, estimating that should the misdemeanour court uphold the agency’s ruling, total fines could amount to between 2.7 and 27 million euros.

Jovovic indicated that while the companies have the right to appeal to the Administrative Court, they must not proceed with the current agreement. “They must comply with the measures we have implemented… and I am hopeful this will lead to lower prepaid prices for consumers. Ideally, these companies should offer varied service prices and compete in the marketplace,” Jovovic explained.

The President of the Agency Council, Dragan Damjanovic, emphasized that this case marks a significant shift in combating harmful practices that jeopardize consumer interests.

“Cases like this are critically important to end-consumers, who often… are overlooked due to profit motives and other corporate objectives. We will not tolerate anti-competitive conduct,” Damjanovic asserted.